Kanye West, Kid Cudi Square Off Over Ghostwriting, Drake Collab

The relationship between longtime collaborators Kanye West and Kid Cudi appeared to sour on Wednesday after Kid Cudi tweeted that West and Drake "don't give a fuck about me." On his Saint Pablo tour in Tampa, Florida later that night, West issued a passionate rebuke from his floating platform: "Don't ever mention 'Ye['s] name," he noted. Later he added, "I'm so hurt." Kanye and Cudi have worked together frequently since the former's landmark 808s & Heartbreak album in 2008.

Kanye recently confirmed that he was working on a long-rumored mixtape with Drake. Cudi appeared to feel left out of the project, and he took to Twitter to air his grievances. "Everyone thinks they're soooo great," he wrote. "Talkin top 5 and be having 30 people write songs for them." Roughly 30 minutes later, he added, "My tweets apply to who they apply. Ye, Drake, whoever. These niggas dont give a fuck about me. And they aint fuckin with me … Ive been loyal to those who haven't been to me and that ends now. Now im your threat."

Everyone thinks they're soooo great. Talkin top 5 and be having 30 people write songs for them

Kanye offered a scathing retort hours later, firing back while the wounds were still fresh. The rapper stopped a performance of his remix of Chief Keef's "I Don't Like" — surely not a coincidence — to declare, "Kid Cudi, don't never mention ’Ye name. I birthed you."

"We all dealing with that evil shit all the time," the rapper continued. "Don't ever mention 'Ye name. Don't try to say who I can do songs with. You mad 'case I'm doing songs with Drake? Ain't nobody tellin' 'Ye who to do songs with. Respect the God."

West appeared to be stung, and repeatedly suggested that he and Cudi were on the same side. "I feel so disrespected," he said. "Kid Cudi, we're two black men in a racist world. I wore skinny jeans first. I got called names before you, bruh. Why y'all gotta be coming at me? This ain't the end of the Malcolm X movie. I'm out here fighting for y'all: creatives, artists, independent thinkers. Don’t never mention my name in a bad manner."